All of the recent series of letters about e-bikes on local streets and trails are about the safety of trail users. I spent 30-plus years as a commercial airline pilot, and over that time I experienced how airline flying went from “pretty safe” to what it is today, one of the very safest modes of transportation there is. How did it get there?
Every single safety rule we have in the aviation world today is the result of an airplane tragedy, usually where many, many people died or were injured. After the tragedy, rules were changed, airplanes were made safer and everyone benefited.
It seems to me we are on that same path with e-bikes. E-bike technology and power have far outpaced the implementation of rules and regulations for safe operation of the bikes. The letters these last few weeks have shown example after example of e-bike riders making our trails very unsafe for other users. I know that other types of cyclists also sometimes create unsafe conditions, but e-bikes are unique because of the combination of weight, speed and, often, young, inexperienced riders. It seems to me that unless we as a community quickly come together and decide how we are going to solve this problem, we are going to have a tragedy that will shock the community.
Communicate with your representatives and make suggestions as to how YOU think the system could be made safer. Hopefully this will spur action to bring this subject to the table so we can go through the process of making some changes BEFORE we have a tragedy. It won’t happen overnight but it seems to me we need to get started.
Mike Stevens
Park City
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